Utah Jazz dominant in preseason win over Maccabi Haifa
The Utah Jazz hit the hardwood Wednesday night and came out on top in another wire-to-wire victory, this time against Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Super League.
Resting Rodney Hood and Joe Johnson, as well as leaving Donovan Mitchell and Raul Neto out, didn’t change the way the Utah Jazz went about things in their second of five preseason games. Despite missing key players, they blew out Maccabi Haifa by 39 points for to improve to 2-0 in exhibition play.
After a sluggish start on both ends, the Jazz tidied things and took control. As soon as they captured the lead, the travelling internationals had no answer. Just as they did in Utah’s win over the Sydney Kings on Monday, the starters played limited minutes and the bench carried even more of the workload throughout the night.
As expected, the Jazz were led at both ends by their franchise cornerstone, Rudy Gobert. The Stifle Tower came away with 12 points on 5-of-5 from the field in just 17 minutes of play. He also contributed three rebounds and a rather impressive three blocks that added a certain flavor to the game as things between he and Samardo Samuels got heated in the second quarter.
As Rudy started to take control of the favorable match-up, Samuels tried to take things into his own hands at the offensive end after sucking Gobert into a rather soft technical foul call. Samuels came back and drew a foul on a Gobert layup attempt and was swatted by the Gobstopper just moments later.
It’s always exciting to see Gobert get into a physical battle, which Matt Harpring refers to as “the game within the game.” As is usually the case, Gobert came out on top.
However, he wasn’t the only Jazz-man to have a nice night. Guards Dante Exum and Alec Burks both came off the bench to have great games. Burks looked like the “Houdini” of old as he posted 16 points on 5-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from downtown. He also added eight rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes.
Exum was superb once again as he showed off his speed, defensive prowess and ability to read the offense. He looks like an entirely different player compared to last season and is proving to be more than capable of running the second unit and being a nightly contributor.
The former No. 5 overall pick finished the game with nine points, six assists, two rebounds and a crafty blocked shot as he came from behind the shooter to knock the ball away. It looks as though Exum has been taking a thing or two out of Ricky Rubio’s playbook as he made some really nice passes out of the pick and roll, as well as in the transition game.
The bench in its entirety looked to be fairly solid with Royce O’Neale and Jonas Jerebko providing a nice boost, while Joel Bolomboy knocked down a pair of threes to try to prove he’s worthy of a roster spot.
When it comes down to it, however, I have a hard time seeing Bolomboy making Utah’s final 15-man roster ahead of Royce O’Neale. But that’s another story for another day.
Utah Jazz
Something Jazz fans and the coaching staff were looking for coming into this season was the ability of both Rubio and Thabo Sefolosha to knock down open shots. Unfortunately, that has yet to be the case. Only two games are on the books, but neither player has looked very good shooting from outside the paint.
Rubio’s minutes won’t be jeopardized by this as much since he can impact the game to such a great degree with his passing. With Thabo, though, it might be a different story. Given Utah’s depth on the wings this season, Sefolosha is going to have to make his open looks count because it could be hard to keep Burks off the floor if he continues to play well.
In the frontcourt, we’ve yet to see from Derrick Favors make a power move or any real attempt to own a mismatch in the post. Although, he did show off a 17-foot jumper that looked more fluid than it has in years past.
All things considered, it’s hard to complain about either of Utah’s preseason performances thus far. They didn’t skip a beat after Monday’s game, going on to obliterate Maccabi Haifa. The final score was 117-78 in favor of the Jazz.
Next: Utah Jazz: Dante Exum receiving praise headed into make-or-break season
This wraps up Utah’s home stand during the preseason. The next time we’ll see the Jazz playing at Vivint Smart Home Arena will be in their regular season home opener against the Denver Nuggets. The Jazz continue their preseason against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Friday.